Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 2018

Masada—the remote mountain-plateau in the Judean Desert, where Herod built a palace-fortress and where Jewish Zealots made their last stand against the Romans—is being excavated once again. Get an inside look at some of the expedition’s preliminary findings, as excavations shed new light on the dramatic site.

Next to the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls are the most valuable literary source for the study of ancient Judaism. Some readers are surprised to discover that many of the scrolls are written in Aramaic. What is the particular significance of the Aramaic texts among the scrolls for elucidating the literary, societal, political, and religious contexts of ancient Judaism and nascent Christianity?

Dating is one of the most important aspects of the archaeological world. In the first article of a new series called Biblical Archaeology 101, discover the difference between relative and absolute dating, and learn about the many techniques archaeologists use to date sites, people, objects, and historical events.

For the first time ever, excavations have begun at Tel Shimron, the largest archaeological site in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. Inhabited from the Stone Age (c. 5500 B.C.E.) through modern times, Tel Shimron appears in the Hebrew Bible, Josephus’s writings, the Mishnah, and other sources. Now archaeologists are uncovering objects from the people themselves who called this site their home.